When a feed product, such as alfalfa, or a grain product, such as wheat and oats, is ready to be harvested, the product may be too moist for further processing after cutting. In such cases the product is typically cut and left in long generally parallel windrows in the field. The product is left in such windrows to afford drying of the product by the wind and sun. After several days of drying in the field, the windrow is typically picked up and the product may be either stored or further processed.
In order to minimize the number of windrows that must be picked up, it makes economic sense to merge one or more windrows into a single windrow. The single remaining windrow may then be picked up as desired. Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for a windrow merger that is capable of efficiently picking up a windrow in a field and moving the product comprising the windrow in a transverse direction to be merged with another windrow. The merger must have a wide pickup head in order to accommodate the widest of windrows. It is desirable that such pick up be accomplished in an efficient manner. Accordingly, the windrow merger should be able to efficiently pick up the windrow on flat surfaces, but also through areas of unevenness in the surface of the field. Additionally, the windrow merger must work as closely as possible to the field surface in order to pick up as much of the material comprising the windrow as possible while being towed at the greatest possible practical forward speed. Further, the material comprising the windrow must be handled effectively without plugging up the windrow merger thereby allowing continuous operation without the need to stop and unplug the merger.